My dad found a cool book he read that wanted me to check out and review for you guys. It’s called Discovering Harold, and it is by another homeschool kid like me, except she’s a girl.

I thought the book was pretty good. I’ve never really thought much about what life is like for a deer, especially with hunters and stuff. I am glad the deer found some nice humans to hang out with.

I think it is a very good book and if you like animals or really good stories, then you will like this book. I think Hannah is a really good writer and her brother is a good artist. I like drawing much better than writing though, but that’s just me.

Note from Dad- As soon as I saw this title pop up in an e-mail newsletter, I sent a note to Sharon Gibson and told her that we wanted to try it for the boys. We’re big on making cooking a big part of our homeschool. It’s a great way to learn practical math and science skills and also teaches the boys a useful craft. I keep telling them that when they get older, a great home-cooked meal from a guy will really impress any prospective wives. Even better, we’ve worked through several of Homeschool Legacy’s Unit Studies in the past and love them. I highly recommend them for your homeschool. In addition to the fun the kids have with them, my wife and I enjoy teaching through them. This one was no different, except for the bonus that we had some really great meals from it.

If you want to try out this or any of the Homeschool Legacy studies, you can find them at their main website HERE or at many of the homeschool conferences. I’ve bought books from them at both.

Alright, enough from me. I’ll turn it over to my son.

Cooking Up History with the Founding Presidents

This unit study tells the history about the first four presidents, their wives, and their favorite desserts. It also shows you the recipe to make those desserts.

Me and my mom read Cooking Up History, and the first lesson was George Washington. George Washington was a very interesting guy, especially since he was the first president and a general in the Revolutionary War. He is awesome, and his favorite desert was cherry pie. So, me and my mom made the pie, and it barely made it past dad. He loved it!! (Note from dad- I ate about 80% of the entire thing.)

Though I do not like cherries, it was pretty fun to make. I got to roll the dough and everything. I also poured in the pie filling. We also learned about Mr. Washington’s wife. They had a fairly confusing relationship because they were seldom together. It was pretty cool to hear that Martha helped the injured at Gen. Washington’s military camp.

The second president we learned about was John Adams. He and his wife were the first presidential family to move into the White House. The funny thing is that they moved into the White House while it was still being built. They stayed in one of the only rooms that was finished, and Mrs. Adams did not have a clothesline so she hung them in one of the unfinished rooms. The most absolute coolest thing is that John Adams had a pet alligator. My dad and I think that he got it because they did not have a Secret Service yet. We do not know for sure yet though.

We are not done with the book yet, but we are looking forward to finishing it, and I can’t wait to make more desserts. I highly recommend this to other homeschoolers. It is very fun and tasty at the same time.

Hi my name is Abishai. I visited my grandparents, aunts, and cousins in Greenville SC. When I first got up there I, of course, got unpacked. Benaiah, Gideon, Astrid, Mom, and Dad also came up there. Our grandparents let us sleep in the game room upstairs. One night we watched Monsters Inc. before we went to bed. Then in the morning, we watched Toy Story. Except for Sunday and Saturday Mom makes us take homeschool to Greenville.

The whole reason we were up there was because there was a homeschool conference called the Great Homeschool Conference. At that conference we had a booth with comics, baseball cards, and 48 Days stuff. The most awesome part of the whole expo is the kids program. The reason it is a fun part is because there is bouncies, games, and a skit. This year’s theme was superheroes, so it was a really fun time.

We also get free stuff like a rubber band foam missile and a Frisbee, and we got to eat out a lot. We also got to meet our third favorite teacher in the world. He is our math teacher his name is Steve Demme, and he created Math-U-See. The weird way he remembered Benaiah is that he almost ran in to Steve in the parking lot. We went to his booth, and he recognized Benaiah. He actually played Frisbee with him for a minute. My mom bought a few things. My dad taught two classes. They were about martial arts and comic books with homeschooling.

My dad handed me his camera during his comic book lecture and told us to take photos for him. Here are mean selfies me and my brother took.

I love watching the Magic School Bus show. Today’s episode was about chemistry and baking. It was cool because I’m baking some with mom today. Here’s a drawing and my mindmap from the show. I’ll get you some videos of my baking later.

Note from Dad- I came a cross a set of rules the other day that an HOA had established for their neighborhood. It discussed such items as when construction workers could be in the neighborhood, asking people not to feed alligators, and when the pool is open. I thought it’d be cool to have the boys make up our own list of rules for our house.

Just to show you that homeschool is a very dynamic (Re: not static) way of educating the youth, we did this at the doctor’s office while at a pre-op appointment for Benaiah, my 5yo Viking, to get his tonsils taken out. Later on the same week, Abishai typed them in for his blog.

Here’s the rules we came up with. If you ever drop in to visit or stay a while, we do expect you to follow them.

The maximum speed limit inside the house is 19 mph unless otherwise posted.

No alligators, saber-toothed tigers, spiders, snakes, or unicorns are allowed in the house.

No walking on the ceiling or windows.

No fishing in the toilet.

No parking on the roof or in the yard.

No putting medusa heads, bodies, angry raccoons, broke down cars, or plastic bottles in the trash. Recycling is important. Plastic bottles have their own bin.